Sighting apparatus for ordnance adapted to fire at elevated targets



we @E ESSE SIM l y o.. GRAUHEDING. SIGHTING APPARATUS FOR OHDNANCEADAPTE'D TO FIRE AT ELEVATED TARGETS.

APPLICATION FILED GCT. I6, 1915.

INVENTDB /f ff 83. GEOMTRICAL NSTUsZiZ- 0.A GRAUHEDlNG.

SIGHTING APPARATUS FOR ORDNANCE ADAPTED T0 FIRE AT ELEVATED TAHGETS.

APPLlcMloN man 001.115,1915.

Patented Apr. 4, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ENTER M 33- GEOMETRICAL INSTRUMENTS.

0. GRAUHEDING.

SIGHTING APPARATUS FOR OHDNANCE ADAPTED I0 FIRE AT ELEVATED TARGETS.APPLlcATioN FILED ocr. 16, |915.

1,41 1,721. Patented Apr. 4, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

i q1-TURN EY UNITED STA'lES PATENT OFFICE.

OSKAR GRAUHEDING, OF DUSSELDORF, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO RHEINISCHEMETALLWAAREN- UND MASCHINENFABRIK, OF DUSSELDORF-DERENDORF, GERMANY, ACORPORATION OF GERMANY.

SIG-LHTING: APPARATUS FOR ORDNANCE ADAPTED TO FIRE AT ELEVA'IED TARGETS.

Application filed October 16, 1915.

Specification of Letters Patent.

(GRANTED UNDER TH`E PROVISIONS 0F THE ACT 0F MARCH 3, 1921, 41 STAT. L.,1313.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, OsKAR GRAUHEDING, engineer, a subject of the GermanEmperor, residing at Dusseldorf, 26, Fischerstrasse, Germany, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Sighting Apparatus 'forOrdnance Adapted to Fire at Elevated Targets (for which I have iiled anapplication in Germany November 30, 1914;) and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use the same.

The invention relates to improvements in sighting apparatus for ordnanceadapted to fire at elevated targets and has for its particular object toimprove the apparatus described in the U. S. Patent 1143428, sonthatthesaidideyinemhenaised.inconnection with correctlymas Well at elevatedtargets"as also at targetssit'lated/n'thve seabrel'sewhere in or nearlyin the horizontal plane of the muzzle of the gun.

If guns of the said kind are used on ships and if it is desired to firein any moment without regard to the rolling of the ship it will benecessary to take into consideration the said rolling, which normallydoes not eX- ceed an angle of say 10o in each direction, by rotating theelevating mechanism in such a manner that the gun barrel and the line ofsight are elevated or depressed together so that the line of sight isconstantly directed at the target in spite of the rolling of the shi Il;that is done with the device described in the Patent 1143428 analteration of the range angle will take place also if the target is inor nearly in the horizontal plane of the muzzle of the gun. It will beevident that in such cases the alteration of the range angle is notdesired but on the contrary would cause a fault in the said angle.

N ow the present invention consists in an arrangement, by Which the saidalteration 0I the range angle can be revented if the gun is to be firedat targets eing in the'horizon- .tal plane of the muzzle of the gun evenif the gun barrel with the line of sight is moved up or down inaccordance with the rolling of the ship.

In the accompanying drawings an embodiment of the invention is shown. Inthe drawings Figure l is a front elevation, Figure 2 a side elevation,Figure 3 a section in the line -m of Figure 2. Figures 4 and 5 show twodifferent positions of some parts of the device, when ring on elevatedtargets. Figures 6 and 7 show two different positions of the same partswhen firing at targets situated in the horizontal plane of the muzzle ofthe gun. Figures 8-10 are diagrammatical representations of severalpositions of the principal parts of the device.

The mechanism shown in the drawings has the same general constructionas'that described in the U. S. Patent 1143428 and comprises particularlya curved member 10 pivoted on a bolt 11 arranged in a holder a of abracket b fastened at the gun carriage.

The curved member 10 is adjusted according to the distance of the targetby rotating the screw spindle d and by means of a nut e (Figure 3),through which the screw spindle passes and which is provided with a pinf engaging the arm g of an angular lever gh, and further by means of apin z' of the said arm g engaging a guiding slot or recess 7c of thecurved piece 10. The guiding slot or recess c is provided at the upperend of the curved member 10 (Figures 2 and 8), its length beingdetermined by the greatest range of adjustment of the curved member 10according to the greatest distance of the target.

The curved member 10 is embraced by a sliding piece 1 which moves withthe gun if the lat-ter is elevated or depressed. This sliding piece isengaged by a pin m connected with a sleeve a surrounding an arm 5. Thelatter is pivoted on a pin t connected or made in one piece with amember 1' which is rigidly connected by means of an arm s with theholder a. By moving the slide piece 1 in consequence of the elevation ofthe gunbarrel the link triangle 5, 8, 9 is adjusted in the mannerdescribed in the above said U. S. patent so as to correct the rangeangle.

The arm h of the angle lever gk is pivotally connected with the pivot 11of the curved member 10 (Figure 2). The arm L however can be releasedfrom the said pivot as will be hereafter described.

The pivot of the angular lever f/L is formed by a. pin 0 engaging agroove p of the member r (Figure 3). The member r carries av drum cwithin which in a well known manner a distance scale is connected withthe screw spindle d so as to be readable from the outside of the drumthrough an opening.

u is the ocular of a sighting telescope carried by the bracket b in anunchangeable position, as in the present construction only the prism cwill be adjusted for sighting.

The said prism situated nearly in the axis of t-he pin t is adjusted bythe link triangle 5, 8, 9 by means of a gear 7 in such a manner that itrotates only with halt the circular velocity of the barrel. The linktriangle 5, 8, 9 is moved by the elevation of the gun directly, if thepin t is a` trunnion of the gun barrel, or as in the shown embodiment bymeans of a link parallelogram if the pin t is situated outside thetrunnion. The reduction of the circular velocity is caused by thetransmission of the movement from the arm 5 to the prism o through thelinks 5, 8 and 9.

If it is desired to fire at elevated targets, the curved member 10 isconnected with its givot 11 in the same manner as in the U.

Patent 1143428 and as shown in Figures 4 and 5. In this case the angularlever gt is released from the pivot 11 as is shown by Figure 5.

If it is however desired to fire at targets situated in the horizontalplane of the muzzle of the gun the curved member 10 is released from theholder a, as shown by Figure 7, from which it will be seen that thecurved member 10 remains connected with the angular lever gk whenreleased from the holder a. v

The operation of the device for firing at dierent targets will be betterunderstood by reference to Figures 8-10.

Figure 8 shows the principal parts of the device diagrammatically intheir normal position, that is to say, in the position which t-he partshave if the gun barrel is in a. horizontal position. In this case thecurved member 10 is concentric to the axis of the pin t this axisforming the axis of rotation of the line of sight.

If it is now desired to fire at elevated targets the arm h of theangular lever gh is released from the holder a and the curved piece 10is adjusted in the same manner as in the U. S. Patent 1143428 byswinging it round its pivot 11. This is shown by Figure 9 in which thedotted line shows the original normal position of the curved member 10whilst the new position of this member is shown by a full line. If nowthe gun barrel is elevated the pin i comes into the position shown inFigure 9 by dot and dash lines, whereby also the link triangle 5, 8, 9is adjusted for the correct-ion of the range angle.

The mode. of operation in firing at targets situated in the horizontalplane of the muzzle of the gun is explained by Figure 10. In this figurethe dotted curved line shows the same position of the curved member 10as is shown in Figure 9 by a full line, that is to say, it is assumed inFigure 10 that the target is in the same distance as in Figure 9. By theelevation or' the gun barrel corresponding to that distance the pin z'comes into the position shown by dot and dash lines in Figure 10.

If now the ship rolls and the sighting-device is constantly directed tothe target, the pin z' would move on the curved member 10 between twopositions indicated by the small circles l and 2, as the curved member10 is assumed to be connected with the holder a.. The said movement ofthe pin z' on the curved member 10 would however result in a constantalteration of the angle of range by the constant alterat-ion of thetriangle 5, 8, 9 in consequence of the eccentric position of the curvedmember 10. As however the target is not elevated but in the horizontalplane of the gun muzzle the said constant alteration of the angle ofrange is not correct and would be prevented if the curved member 10 wereconcentric with the axis t of rotation. Such a concentric position ofthe curved member 10 is shown in Figure 1 0 by a dot and dash line.

Now it is possible with the device constructed according to the present`invention to bring the curved member 10 in such a position, that it isnearly concentric to the axis t in that part of its length in which thepin moves in consequence of the rolling 'of the ship. This adjustment ofthe curved member 10 can be made because it is possible to release thepivoted end of the curved member 10 from the holder a and to connect itwith the end 12 of the arm It of the angular lever git. The curvedmember 10 is then in the position shown in Figure 10 by a full line andit will be seen that in this position the curved member between thepoints 1 and 2 is much more concentric to the axis t than if it hadconserved the position shown by a dotted line.

The conditions assumed in Figure 10 are the most unfavorable occurringin practice, that is to say, the curved member 10 is adjusted :tor adistance of 10000 m. and the points l and 2 correspond to a rolling ofthe ship of 10 in each direction. Therefore it will be seen, that forsmaller distances of firing and for a smaller angle of rolling thecurved member 10 can be brought into a position in which it is nearlyconcentric with the axis t in .that part of-its length in which the pini moves to and froy by directing the line of sight constantly to thetarget during the ship rolls.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is 1. In Combinationwith a pivotally mounted gun-barrel and a sighting-device, meansformingV a'sliding` connection between the gun-barrel and thesighting-device, a curved member pvoted at one end and to which saidsliding connection is sldably connected, a support for the pivoted endof said member, means for moving said member on its pivot, the pivotedend of said member being releasably held in its support.

2. In combination with a pivotally mounted gun-barrel and asighting-device, means forming a sliding connection between thegun-barrel and the sighting-device, a curved member pivoted at one endand to which said sliding connection is slidably Connected, a supportfor the pivoted end of said member, means for movingsaid member on itspvot, the pvoted end of said member being releasably held in itssupport, an angular lever, a guide within which the pivot of said leveris adjustable and means for connecting the released curved member withthe said angular lever.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this specification in the presenceof two subscribing witnesses.

OSKAR GRAUHEDING. [11. s]

Witnesses:

ALBERT NUFER, META WARD.

